Where we are failing

Palestinians never cease to amaze me. Every time I tell of my view that this conflict can only be truly and justly ended by establishing a single state in which we are all equal, I am surprised at how many head nods I get. I am not talking about the intelligentsia here, but normal people from the street. In the back of their minds, they only have the dream that we will be equals and just that: Arabs and Jews living side by side, no hate, no domination, no oppression.
I don't know how and if this issue is ever debated in Israel. It hardly appears in the mainstream media outlets and when it does it is often presented as a threat that is to be avoided.
A thorough analysis of all the issues that are fueling the conflict can only lead us to this solution. This is what many of the worlds leading political scientists, historians and intellectuals have come to. And this is how the issue is viewed from the eyes of the oppressed here.
However, the idea of a single state never makes it to the mainstream, even in the Palestinian media. The only time I remember it to have spurred debate is when Qurei, then prime minister, declared that current Israeli practices, if they continue, will make the two states solution impossible and Palestinians will have no choice but to struggle for a single state.
My concern, over the last few days has been why is this the case? In other words, why is it that the more practical (albeit difficult) solution is off the table?
I came up to a single answer. Yes, the one state solution is a the solution that is seen by intellectuals as the only feasible and just solution to the conflict. However, over the years, it has always remained an intellectual solution. We never managed to take it to the streets, there was never a grassroots movement that was dedicated to this, neither here in Palestine/Israel nor abroad. That is why the idea remains debate material in the intellectual circles, but never makes it past these debates.
What is needed here is to propose a clear framework for a peaceful resolution of the conflict based on a single, democratic, secular state, and build a movement around it.
The two states solutions has managed to build a strong movement amongst Israelis a weaker movement on the Palestinian side. Since the Intifada, both movements have more or less disintegrated, and now they are building themselves up again.
Us on the One State side, have sat, rather idly watching the other movement rise and fall then picking up again. Over those years we did nothing to step forward and present ourselves. We might have been afraid of the consequences, embarrassed of being idealistically motivated, or unable to gather our strength... Whatever it was, we can't go on like this, Otherwise we will wake up one November morning to find that our dream has been shattered.
What is needed now is to start building a single movement with a single base amongst both peoples. Only such a movement will be strong enough to show that it is possible, and to fight for achieving this dream.